All manner of mayhem ... Arya takes on the zombie army in Game of Thrones.
Photograph: Helen Sloan/HBO/Home Box Office (HBO)

Spoiler alert: this recap is published after Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US on Sunday night and on Foxtel in Australia on Monday. Do not read unless you have watched episode three of season eight, which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic on Monday at 2am and 9pm, and is repeated in Australia on Showcase on Monday at 7.30pm AEST.

‘We’re fighting death. You can’t beat death’

Cometh the hour, cometh the woman. While everyone got their moment in a tense and pulsating episode during which I barely drew breath, no one was more important than red priestess Melisandre. She lit the flames of the Dothraki swords, set a trench ablaze which allowed the retreating army enough time to get through the walls of Winterfell, and even found time to deliver a bracing (and, as it turned out, crucial) pep talk to Arya before finally walking out of the castle and through the snowy wastes to die, necklace cast aside and job very much done.

The Night King’s end too made sense when it came. When the mother of dragons yelled ‘dracarys’ I thought for a few sweet minutes it had worked – but it turned out zombie overlords are pretty hard to kill, and Dany’s fire seemed to temper his steel rather than destroy him.

Her partner-in-battle Jon fell back on his patented method of charging suicidally into the fighting mass hoping to take as many with him as possible. I would argue this is a terrible battle tactic, except weirdly it seems to work for Jon. He’s just not so good at surviving smaller attacks from those he inexplicably still thinks of as brothers.

Regardless of how you might feel about Dany’s fire not burning the Night King’s ice, the actual killer made perfect sense. For despite Sandor’s gloomy predictions about fighting death, what is Arya but death’s assassin? Her entire training at the House of Many Faces was leading to this moment. As Melisandre reminded her at the end of the world: “All men must die” “But not today.”

What I liked most about her late arrival – other than the fact I truly didn’t expect it – was that we’d seen both Ayras prior to that point: the killer who used her weapon to slice through a zombie army, and the panicked girl who ignored her training and ran.

Both coexist inside her, and it’s because of that – because she is at once human and murderer – that she could deliver the telling blow: she came to save the Three-Eyed Raven and the day, but, almost more importantly, she saved her brother Bran.

Prior to that climatic moment we had seen all manner of mayhem, as well-known characters went to their heroic doom, albeit perhaps not as many as the odds and the audience expected (how Grey Worm made it out alive I’ll never understand, but I do hope he now gets his island paradise with Missandei). Ultimately, though, I’m fine with the fact that not everyone fell (although as the Night King moved towards Bran I really thought they might.) There are three episodes to go, and too many big deaths would have lessened those we did get.

‘Everything you did has brought you where you are now, where you belong: home’

Let us raise a glass to the departed. Chief among them Jorah and Theon, both of whom, to echo the famous quote about Dany’s brother Rhaegar, “fought valiantly, fought nobly, fought honourably.” And, like Rhaegar, they died.

Not before finding peace and, most importantly, home. For amid the battle, the fire, the zombies and the deaths this was also an episode about those makeshift families made in series past.

Thus Jorah found his way to his Khaleesi one last time – in the moment that made me cheer the most – protected her, saved her and died for her. In recent episodes Dany hasn’t been the most likable character, but when she wept for the man who has known her longest, who has seen her grow from child bride to autocratic queen, it all but broke my heart.

Similarly, Alfie Allen has made me cry twice in two weeks as Theon showed why he was both Ironborn, in his glorious and reckless final stand, and yet also Stark, earning redemption and Bran’s benediction too. He may have started off a callow youth, but Bran was right – he died a good man.

Other good men and women leaving included Beric, who sacrificed himself to save The Hound and Ayra, Dolorous Edd who saved Sam (and whose gloomy pronouncements I shall miss) and little Lyanna Mormont, who ferociously took out the ice giant, although alas, Jorah’s death means the great house of Mormont is no more.

Spare a thought too for Dany’s brave Dothraki, the most vulnerable front and the first to fall. The moment their flaming weapons were extinguished was both emotional and beautifully shot by director Miguel Sapochnik, even if the failure since Khal Drogo’s death to give even a couple of Dothraki individual personalities has long been one of the show’s biggest flaws.

‘It’s the most heroic thing we can do now, staying alive’

The big question, of course, is what now for those who have survived. All eyes turn to King’s Landing and who sits on the Iron Throne. But how will Dany react to the death of Jorah? Without the man who knew her best, can anyone stop her autocratic tendencies coming to the fore?

There is certainly an almighty clash coming with Sansa, who isn’t keen to commit the much-reduced northern army to Dany’s quest, preferring instead to fight for autonomy.

And what of Jon, who has focused every waking moment on this long night? Does he go with Dany, whom he surely owes for standing with him in his darkest hour, or stick with those who also fought bravely for him but who will have no wish for another war, particularly one in a far-off southern city that has led the Starks of Winterfell to their doom before?

What too of Jaime and Brienne, who fought so fiercely back-to-back? Or Tormund? And the Hound? And finally, of Bran, still a Three-Eyed Raven, but one now without a cause.

A great battle has been won and the war against the Night King is over, but a different war now faces our raggle-taggle band and this one will require a different kind of courage and power. Yes, that’s right – it’s Tyrion’s time.

Additional notes

• I was very taken with the moments that showed us the battle through Sam’s eyes, not least because I would behave exactly like Sam if caught up in hell.

• I was glad Sandor’s fear of fire wasn’t glossed over – and tickled to see him simply pick Arya up and carry her to safety.

• ‘Stick him with the pointy bit’ really is this show’s motto.

• I would be very grateful if someone closer versed than I in the minutiae of George RR Martin’s world could explain why the Night King didn’t die when Dany’s dragon breathed fire on him. Is this valid, or an introduced plot twist? I remain in two minds.

• While I missed Neil Marshall, whose background in horror would have been perfect, I enjoyed Sapochnik’s direction and thought he was particularly good at the moments of quiet. Most notably in the scene when the Night King walked through the Weirwood towards Bran and Theon. Beautifully scored by Ramin Djawadi, it was one of the most striking moments in a drama that has been full of them.

• Also well-handled: the moment between Sansa and Tyrion when she pulled her dagger and neither he nor I was sure if she intended to kill herself with it as Cersei once counselled in a different battle long ago. In those few seconds, Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner spoke volumes without uttering a word.

• In a different world I would have liked to see Melisandre and Bran have a prophecy-off.

• Finally, well done to everyone who called it that ‘If the Night King raises the dead, they’ll come out of the crypt as well’, even though the crypt dead didn’t seem to cause nearly as much havoc as they could have done.

Violence count

Pretty hefty this week, including the eradication of the Dothraki, the thinning out of most of the Unsullied and the deaths of much of the northern army in addition to the death and subsequent resurrection of most of the zombie army with some new recruits in their ranks, an experience only ended by the disintegration of the Night King. We also lost an undead dragon and several main characters. In order of death: Edd Tollett, Lyanna Mormont, Beric Dondarrion, Theon Greyjoy, Jorah Mormont and Melisandre of Asshai. Pour out a glass in their name.

What did you think? Was the Battle of Winterfell worth the wait or should more of the big names died? What did you think of how the Night King ended? And, most importantly of all, with alliances fragile and politics to the fore, what happens now? As always, no spoilers and all speculation welcome below …